Q&A with Maker Michelle Evans, project lead on Capella Sydney

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Q&A with Maker Michelle Evans, project lead on Capella Sydney

Posted 31.05.2023

By Interview with Michelle Evans

Capella Sydney, the first Australian property for the Capella Hotel Group, is now open. We’ve spent seven years transforming this former government building into a world-class luxury hotel with new publicly accessible dining venues for Sydneysiders to enjoy.

Maker Michelle Evans, who’s worked on the project, details how the team reimagined this landmark building for a new era.

What’s important to know about the site and its history?

The hotel is located 400m from Sydney Harbour and is part of the historic Sandstone Precinct, which also includes the neighbouring Department of Lands Building and the public space in front of Capella, Farrer Place. The Capella site was actually the area of first contact between the Gadigal people and members of the first fleet to New South Wales.

The building was designed by government architect George McRae in 1912 to house the Department of Education. It’s state-listed and a hugely important asset to the city. Interestingly, it was designed and constructed in two halves, with two completely different structural systems. You’d never know from the outside, but this added significant complexity to our project.

What did you make of the original structure?

We were so impressed when we first saw the building – the outside, especially the sandstone facade, was in great condition. But as a working government office for many years, the inside was extremely utilitarian.

While there were these pockets of really amazing heritage fabric, like the stairs and the entrance lobbies, many of these had become disconnected. The existing courtyard at the centre of the building, for example, had become a back-of-house service yard, and the roofscape had been given over to plant and services.

What were some of the team’s key architectural moves?

We stripped the building back to the bare bones, then excavated down 12m to provide three new levels of basement for back-of-house zones. We also stitched new columns and slabs with the existing structure, which allowed us to add a 4-storey extension, and converted the old office floors into guestrooms.

The extension is deliberately deferential both in terms of massing and design. A setback structure, it introduces new materials to contrast the sandstone below. There are now 192 guestrooms across the existing and new levels of the building.

McRae’s original intent was for the building to centre around a Florentine palazzo-style courtyard. Sadly, piecemeal additions in the 1990s eroded this concept, but we’ve reinstated it. We inserted a contemporary glass roof to enclose the courtyard without sacrificing natural light and suspended a kinetic artwork by Studio Drift from the roof to animate the space with gentle movement. It’s now a gorgeous dining venue called Aperture marking the heart of the hotel.

Section showing the scale of the new courtyard and the sense of compression followed by expansion that visitors experience moving through the ground floor.

How did the team go about protecting the heritage elements?

We worked with our heritage consultant, Urbis, to determine which areas of the building we could be retain and restore, including the beautiful roof lanterns and the sandstone facade, and which interventions we’d remove. This meant meticulously cataloguing each of the heritage assets.

From here, we restored the previously hidden heritage stairs and opened up the stairwell to connect through to the new lift lobbies on each floor. We worked really closely with expert stonemasons to repair the stair treads, and designed new marble inserts along with a contemporary curved glass balustrade to bring it up to modern safety standards.

BAR Studio’s interior design for the guestrooms, deliberately contemporary in its look and feel, highlights the building’s retained heritage features, including the original steel windows. We wanted to accentuate the varying window proportions across the heritage and new levels, so we’ve deliberately shifted to floor-to-ceiling glazing as you move into the extension. This means some of the upper-level suites get a sneak peek of the Harbour Bridge.

Capella Sydney features a grand arrival experience – can you expand on that?

The journey begins at Farrer Place, which now features new greenery, seating and integrated heritage plaques. There’s more acquired and commissioned art as the journey continues. First Nations artist Judy Watson has reimagined the original government directory boards in the entryway, for example, as frames for public art. Art is a really important part of the design narrative and storytelling in Capella Sydney. There are around 2,000 artworks across the building.

There’s a deliberate transition between old and new as people pass through the ground floor, with ceiling heights expanding from one space to the next. The double-height lobby connects guests to the central courtyard, where the glass roof and facade frame views to the sky above.

We designed the ground floor to draw the public inside. A restaurant, Brassiere 1930, anchors the south-east corner, while the new McCrae Bar is in the south-west corner. BAR Studio’s interior design has really brought these spaces to life, giving each its own identity while complementing the hotel’s wider look and feel.

What’s your favourite part of Capella Sydney?

My favourite space is the wellness centre on level 6 – the area that underwent the most complex transformation. It’s home to a series of beautiful heritage roof lanterns and was originally used as a gallery space, then later as a meeting room. When we first visited the site, windows had been blocked out, and some of the heritage fabric was boxed in.

Now it features a stunning 20m pool that runs the length of the largest roof lantern, with treatment rooms inserted underneath the others. No matter where they are in the space, guests always have this wonderful connection to the heritage fabric.

What I really love about this space is its reflections, which change throughout the day and hint at its former use. This really encapsulates what this project is about – celebrating the origins of this grand building while transforming it into a luxurious place that can be enjoyed for years to come.

Capella Sydney has been a very special project to work on, and I’m excited we can finally share it with everyone! It was a collaboration with a brilliant client, Pontiac Land, and an incredible project team, of which Make is just one part.

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